Hi can anyone recommend one compound to help me with my Post Traumatic Stress and anxiety i get panic Attacks, I had a brain haemorrhage and stroke 7 years ago am working and on anti depressants citalopram,
For 20 years before that I used to smoke loads of dope, that was a great relaxant but thats long gone, any suggestions would be great

Peter

To be honest, nobody here can suggest supplements for you without knowing your genetics and background properly. Anyone recommending specific things isn't doing you any favours because we all have different things going on inside of us - even if we have the same diagnosis or symptoms.

I did a 23andMe test and found out that I'm 7x less responsive to certain antidepressants and I'm also a low producer of MAO-A, meaning that my neurotransmitter levels are actually higher than they should be. I was treated with Citalopram and Venlafaxine in the past and they did nothing but make me more fatigued, angry, and agitated. But if my neurotransmitter levels were high already from naturally producing low MAO-A, then it's no surprise if all they did was make things worse.

So my point is... how can you know what supplement to use if you don't know exactly what the problem is? Is it even a chemical problem, or is it something that can genuinely be solved mentally?

I would say go to a doctor but to be honest, a lot of them don't really know either. Like I said, I got treated with antidepressants by several doctors but am a low MAO-A producer and I eventually got diagnosed with Bipolar and ADHD. Giving Bipolar patients antidepressants is really dangerous... it wasn't properly screened for.

I think the best step forward is to probably take control yourself... if you do a genetic test then you'll know what's likely to be going on inside your body which is a good start. If you didn't have any trouble before your PTSD though, then there's probably nothing wrong on a biological level. I think that some psychological conditions are caused by "chemical imbalances" like they say, but I think that some are caused by environment and no amount of drugs will really "fix" the root cause of the problem. They'll just cover it up.

I think my genes increased the likelihood of me getting Bipolar and ADHD, I think they're a biological thing. But I think my Social Anxiety Disorder for example, is caused primarily by environment. It's my experiences in life that have caused that anxiety. Trying to tackle those issues and really think about why I feel a certain way, what behaviours cause me to feel that way, what behaviours I should maybe do instead, etc, really helpful me to work past that to a certain extent.

I don't know a lot about PTSD, but I think I'm right in thinking that it's caused by a single traumatic event that's happened in the past? So that's environmental right? In a way that's great because you know exactly what the cause is. With generalised anxiety / depression it's often quite hard to drill down to the actual root cause of the problem and figure it out, often there's many different causes adding up together and there may even be biological elements too... so at least you have something to work with. If you haven't seen a therapist already then I'd say try that out because they might be able to help you see things in a new light. And each therapist is different and might just say something in the right way that causes this kind of "click" in your mind that just completely changes your thinking and mindset on things. I personally found CBT useless with my first therapist, but with the 2nd it was really beneficial and I've improved a lot since then...

Not saying that medication is never the answer - I'm on some myself now. Sometimes there are biological reasons for certain conditions and it can be hard to make adjustments to cope with them, sometimes the medication can help with that adjustment. Even if the condition isn't caused by anything biological... there's not necessarily anything wrong with using medication to help you get back on the right track. But that's all it should be - a tool to help you get back to where you want to be. It allows you to make the mental changes (or even lifestyle changes?) that you need to make to be able to get by when you're not on the medication. If you try to rely on them or expect them to "fix" you then you'll always be a bit disappointed and never truly get past any negative mindsets / thought patterns.

Anton

Passiflora is an MAOI btw so it can interact with citalopram, if you are otherwise healthy look into low dose magnesium. I was going to suggest checking out leonotis nepetifolia however there is a fair chance of interaction as well. Look into either alternatives or slowly ceasing the citalopram as it can cause long term memory impairment as well as other problems including serotonergic downregulation